


They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fighting for

by tigriswolf



Series: comment_fic drabbles [200]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Animal Abuse, Clint Barton is a dog person, F/M, Gen, Non-Graphic Violence, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 20:10:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2038461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tigriswolf/pseuds/tigriswolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The few friendlies at SHIELD used to talk about Clint Barton's penchant for strays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fighting for

**Author's Note:**

> Title: They say before you start a war, you better know what you're fighting for  
> Disclaimer: not my characters; title from “Angel with a Shotgun”  
> Warnings: talk of animal cruelty and violence/death  
> Pairings: Natasha/Clint  
> Rating: PG  
> Wordcount: 815  
> Point of view: third  
> Prompt: MCU, Clint/Natasha, Angel with a Shotgun

The few friendlies at SHIELD used to talk about Clint Barton's penchant for strays. He never threw a mission to rescue any dogs, though he came damn close one time and was actually late to the extraction because those douchebags deserved a beating and he delivered it with a stone-cold face and hate in his heart. 

SHIELD didn't allow animals in their quarters, so even though he spent his entire life wanting his own dog, he never got one. Before the group home, the neighbors had a dog that loved Clint more than anyone in her own family, and in the group home, there was a stray hanging around till he got hit by a car. In the circus, there were big cats and a few show dogs, but those dogs were mean unless told otherwise and their handler hated Clint for some reason he still doesn't know. And while the cats were cool, they terrified him just as much as they fascinated him.

So, yeah. A thing for strays. 

No one had the guts to say anything to his face when he brought the Black Widow home, but he knows they were all thinking it. He knows they thought it was her beauty, or that she’d seduced him into letting her live, that she was playing him, maybe that she’d even turned him and it was all just a con. Maybe that Coulson bringing _him_ in was a con, because he’d been just like Natasha once. (Well, not _just like_ Natasha because she is much better than he’ll ever be, but, yeah. Coulson had been sent to kill him.)

Clint Barton is not loyal to organizations. He never has been. He’s loyal to Coulson for giving him a chance; he’s loyal to Fury for backing Coulson’s play when any other director probably would’ve have him put down, no matter what Coulson said.

Coulson asked him, and Fury demanded to know, why he let the Black Widow live. Why he approached her instead of shooting her from a mile away. 

He told Coulson that he saw gentleness in her, that there was something in her wanting another way. He told Fury that she’d be the greatest asset SHIELD ever had, if they gave her even the barest chance. 

Natasha, four years after she trusted him, asked, too. He smiled at her and held out a hand, waiting till she moved toward him to touch her, caressing her face with one hand and letting the other rest on her hip. “You gave the last of your food to a hungry mama dog,” he told her.

She’d stared at him before her entire face lit up in a true, endearing laugh, the kind utterly unlike her mission laughs. 

SHIELD is gone now. Fury and Coulson have both died, though they’re both alive again, even though no one’s bothered telling Clint. (Well, Natasha told him, when she ordered him to stay gone because the world wasn’t safe yet.) 

Clint’s in Australia, wandering around with no purpose, and there’s a stray cattle dog that’s been following him (he’s named her Tish). He knows that if Natasha needs him, she’ll call; he knows that he should be angry about Fury and Coulson both letting him believe they’re dead, that he should be _beyond pissed_ about Hydra growing inside SHIELD from the very beginning. 

But Clint’s never been a company man. He gives his loyalty to people. Coulson and Fury have both broken that loyalty, but he's got Natasha, still.

And he’s got a thing for strays. So, late one night, when he wakes up to Tish growling towards the night, he calls, “I’ve got extra food, you know, if you’re hungry.” He rubs at Tish’s ears till she calms down, and they both watch the man step out of the darkness. 

He looks hungry and tired and so damn broken. Clint doesn’t ask how the fuck he got from DC to the outback because he knows Natasha and knows that this dude once trained her.

“Hungry?” he asks, nodding toward the packs. “Take your fill. Not like I can’t find more.” 

The man stares at him in silence for a few minutes, but Clint doesn’t move and Tish doesn’t start growling again, so he finally steps over to the packs and pulls out a sandwich. 

In the morning, Clint has two strays following him. It’s months before Jimmy (because he’s not gonna travel around with “Hey, you”) actually holds an entire conversation with Clint, but he’s gentle and kind and loving with Tish, and that tells Clint everything he needs to know.

(He lets Natasha know that he’s got the goddamned Winter Soldier with him a week after he starts calling the dude Jimmy, and she just replies, _You and your strays_. 

Clint laughs, and that night, he tells Jimmy the story of how he met Natasha, and Jimmy actually smiles at him.)


End file.
